Date : October 12-14th.
Host : Tunisian Government.
Topic: Multilateral Working Group on Refugees. Place: Tunis.

The Palestinian Delegation to the Multilateral Working group on Refugees of which Dr. Mahdi Abdul Hadi is a member, held meetings at which the Declaration of Principles and its reference and relevance to the refugee question was addressed. The working group reassessed its position in the light of the DOP and decided that as well as elaborating ideas and proposals which will ultimately be finalised in the present and future bilateral negotiations, their task was also to examine and activate programmes and projects aimed at the immediate improvement of living conditions for refugees both inside and outside the Occupied Territory. They welcomed moves by the US whose delegation had just announced a substantive financial contribution to improve the living conditions of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.

Much of the group work was devoted to the issue of family reunification and a report from the group's French emissary, which included important proposals accepted by Israel. A Palestinian and Arab consensus that UN resolutions pertaining to Palestinian refugees should constitute the basis for the work of this group was emphasised. There is explicit opposition to all schemes of re-settlement of Palestinian refugees in the various countries of their exile and unequivocal insistence on their right to return.